Contagious (23 page)

“No, we’re gonna make him comfortable in his room.”

“He acts all tough, but he’s a good guy.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.” Joel handed JJ the needle and shunt and exchanged places. After retrieving another IV bag intent on letting Walter be his guinea pig, Joel left the ballroom and headed to Walter’s first floor room.

It wasn’t far, only across the courtyard. Joel carrying his supplies, knocked once and called out. “I’m covered. So it’s safe, Walter. I’m coming in.” He turned the knob on the door. He expected a holler or fight from the scrappy older man. Instead he received silence and a dark room.

Joel knew.

The light from the bright courtyard lit the front room of the suite and Walter was there, on his side, laying on the couch.

It had been hours since anyone had checked on him and Joel felt the guilt slam into him.

Why didn’t he check on him? Why didn’t Joel try harder to see if Walter was all right?

Walter looked so peaceful lying there. He looked asleep, but he wasn’t. Walter had died.

Somewhere between the early morning realization that Walter was ill and Joel’s return in the afternoon, Walter had passed away. Joel didn’t know if it was the virus that killed him so quickly or his age just couldn’t handle it. Whatever the reason, Walter was gone. Joel collapsed on the floor next to Walter’s body. It was a sign of things to come and one Joel didn’t want to face.

Not only was he consumed with the sadness over the loss of his friend, he was consumed with guilt. Walter didn’t just pass away, he died alone in a dark cold hotel room.

He deserved better than that.

<><><><>

Randall was in the middle of it all. Center of the city. And Cleveland, like New York had become a war zone. The minimal amount of people treated spread like a bad case of lice. One infected became two, two became four and so on. Like a bad seventies hair care product commercial, it spread everywhere.

Nature was doing just fine with the virus on its own, man didn’t need to speed it along.

Randall only wanted to get out of the city, but locked in the back storage room with four bottles of water, a Snickers bar, half a bologna sandwich and three bags of chips, he lived every horror movie imaginable.

Don’t make noise. Don’t move.

He heard screaming and banging. Too many attempts were made at his locked door. He only hoped he could survive long enough until it ended.

A short wave radio on campus, just before he retreated into hiding gave him some information.

He told them he was in the building and was going into hiding and he needed help. It threw him some when he was informed that the military was being withdrawn from Cleveland.

Hadn’t they just arrived not eight hours earlier?

Withdrawn.

He didn’t know who he spoke to, but it was someone that was able to get the message out.

Randall simply told him. “Tell people to wait. Wait it out. Four days max and the infected will die. Just wait it out.”

“I’ll put that out.” The man on the other end of the radio responded. “You’re in Cleveland right? In the city?”

“Yes.”

“It’ll be over soon.”

Randall didn’t know what that meant. But in the closet, locked up safely with his limited supply of food and water, he took solace in those words.

He’d wait.

It would be over soon.

<><><><>

It crackled with a lot of hiss and static, so JJ decided to take it outside. He laughed at the old school ‘boom box’ when his mother gave it to him. It was something from her youth and still played cassette tapes.

When JJ saw the attention it got, he kept it around.

Now he was grateful for that radio.

He snatched up more batteries from the gift shop, hoping maybe the batteries were the problem. He also grabbed aluminum foil from the kitchen. Outside, on that slight hill, he could pick up what that man was saying....he hoped.

After stepping outside, JJ moved farther from the building to the grassy yard area that was in the center of the driveway.

The CDC mobiles were set up to his right and he wondered if they had anything in there, but first he’d try his boom box.

He placed it down, listened to the voice that was buried beneath static, pulled out the old fashioned antennas and played with them. He moved them about, stopping when he thought he heard something.

Static – Moving out.

‘Moving out’.
JJ thought.
What does that mean?

The smell of cigarette smoke hit him first and then JJ saw the large shadow. He turned to see Rayne standing there. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I don’t. But I figured my nose is clogged might as well get shit into my lungs to make it impossible for the virus to settle there.”

“That’s an odd theory.”

“It’s worth a try,” Rayne said then coughed.

JJ looked at him.

“It’s the cigarette.” Rayne held it up. “I’m not sick. Anything?”

JJ shook his head. “Trying.”

Static. Halt … civilians.

“Stop
,” Rayne said. “Hold on to it. Don’t move.”

JJ froze. He didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t twitch.

It’s the only hope … static … to get this … end… static ….Aggressive measures ….static … low yield …. Static … With high population areas.

“Who is that?” Rayne asked. “Sounds like the President.”

“I don’t know.”

The male voice continued with intermittent static.
It is the only chance.

Static.

There were no more voices. Only a beep. A steady beep that wasn’t disrupted by any signal, that wasn’t buried beneath the white noise.

JJ stepped back from holding the antennas. “That was weird. That couldn’t have been the President.”

“Sounded like him. I wonder what he meant.”

“Obviously, that beep is the emergency broadcasting system. But there’s no instructions.” JJ reached down for the radio to silence the beep or at least lower the volume. His hand barely touched the knob when they received the answer.

It came in the form of sound first because sound traveled faster than light.

It was a boom, but not one that sounded like an explosion.

A soft ‘boom’ as if a huge drum was just struck.

Rayne’s head immediately cocked and he moved to his right.

“Where you going?” JJ asked.

“North.” Rayne pointed. “It came from there.”

“North?”

Rayne stopped moving and stared outward. “Cleveland.”

Soft and quiet, with a hiss of electric sound, a huge white blinding light blasted out, flooding the area and illuminating everything like the world had its picture taken with the brightest flash.

“Oh my God!” Rayne gasped out. Before the white even dissipated, he grabbed hold of JJ, ordered out, “Run!” and they both raced as fast as they could to the hotel.

It was hard to determine by the flash of white light, exactly what kind of explosion it was. Rayne ventured a good guess. But he couldn’t gauge how big. Almost carrying JJ in the hotel, Rayne ran top speed knowing soon enough; that he would find out how big of a bomb was used on Cleveland.

Moments into being inside, away from the open and glass ceiling of the courtyard, the ground rumbled. It was no more than a small earthquake, causing the windows to rattle.

It lasted a minute and then it stopped.

“What was that?” Joel raced out. “Did you see that flash?”

JJ’s mouth was agape. His hands to his ears, he didn’t move.

Rayne had to see. He had to know. He turned and walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?” Joel asked.

“I have to see. I need to see.”

“You’re insane. Stay inside.”

Rayne shook his head ‘no’, and continued out. His heart pounded as it raced out of control. Outside he didn’t smell anything, it was brighter but that could have been his imagination.

He saw nothing until he stood in the spot facing Cleveland. It was there, not big. But twelve miles away it was big enough to see. It was the single most frightening sight he had ever witnessed. The mushroom cloud, still glowing, raised to the sky, burning an image there. Rayne watched and kept watching. As it went from orange and red to a black cloud of smoke that took the mushroom form.

A dark hue began to bleed across the blue sky.

There was no doubt in his mind...the boom, the flash and the mushroom cloud. Cleveland, like New York and probably many other cities, had been nuked.

An attempt to burn out a large portion of the virus, but how many countless innocent, uninfected people went up in smoke and ash as well?

<><><><>

Ava was wiping down Calvin’s face when the room grew suddenly bright. So bright, she swore the sun exploded. She wanted to rush from the room, find Landon, but that would leave Calvin alone.

What to do?

She shielded him with her body as if she could protect him if a fireball ripped through the hotel. When she was certain no part of the explosion was going to hit the hotel, she flew from the back room out of the suite and into the hall, standing by the door.

She spotted Joel in the courtyard. “Joel, is Landon all right?” she yelled down.

“Yes. He’s with Bianca. They were actually in the basement.”

“Where’s Rayne?”

Joel pointed to the doors. “Trying to see.”

To Ava that made perfect sense. Of course, Rayne, the self
-proclaimed addict of learning would rush outside to assess and learn all that he could.

Ava too wanted to see and she knew their suite faced Cleveland. When she made it back inside, she looked out the bedroom window.

It took her breath away and her heart sunk.

The unmistakable mushroom cloud.

What a perfect back drop for all that was happening in the hotel, and for what was happening in that room.

Looking at it gave her a feeling of desperation and finality.

As a mother she was failing. Or at least she felt that way.

Two children needed her and she had no idea what to do. More than anything she wanted to bring Landon into the suite and have him near her, but she knew she couldn’t. Not when there was such a big chance that she too would get sick.

She pulled the chair to the other side of Calvin’s bed, leaving the drapes open with a perfect view of the distant mushroom cloud.

Ava was well aware that if it was a nuclear explosion, there was a chance of radiation. Radiation carried in the sunlight. Closing the curtains was the smart choice, but to Ava, what lingered as a grim reaper in the hotel, was going to kill people a lot faster and long before the effects of the bomb ever would.

<><><><>

The small town afforded Amita the opportunity to find out what  was going on. She sat on a bus stop bench and she could hear the radios playing. So many of them. She watched cars try to leave without success.

Four accidents could have been avoided.

She watched.

One man emerged from his car, he coughed a lot and everyone ran from him.

It was crazy.

A police officer tried diligently to stop people, yelling out, as if they heard him. “People. Please. Stay put. Stay inside. Don’t go. Stop. They said low yield. We’re far enough away.”

Low yield.

Amita knew what they meant when she heard what would be the final address to the nation. Low yield nuclear warheads were being used on twenty-two American cities that were infected with the rabies strain.

Smaller bombs to burn out an area and cause minimal effects to surrounding suburbs.

What difference did it make?

It was over anyhow.

If half the people in a small town called Solon Ohio were ill, it was symbolic of the rest of the country.

She was on that bench when the flash arrived.

Amita didn’t move. She merely whispered Randall’s name and closed her eyes, saying a prayer for him. She knew, he was close enough and didn’t make it out.

Without any uncertainty, she knew her family was safe and that mattered to her.

An hour after the bomb detonated, Amita started walking again. It was then she discovered Scooter’s Motor Mart on the edge of town. There were plenty of cars in the lot and the small building that housed the ‘buy here pay here’ dealer was locked.

Peeking through the door she could see keys on the back wall.

The window would be easy enough to break and no one was around to care. She searched around for a rock big enough and she found one.

Amita aimed at the bottom square of glass and hit the window hard. She prepared herself for an alarm, but there was none. There wasn’t any power.

Nine sets of keys were on the rack and marked. It was convenient. Amita planned to find the car with the most gasoline. She’d take that car and drive to her family.

Tony, Casper and her mother were deep in the state of West Virginia. It would take Amita six hours to drive there if the roads were clear. They probably weren’t.

It was pushing mid-afternoon and she didn’t want to drive at night.

Scooter’s Motor Mart would be her shelter for the evening. But at first light, no matter what, Amita was leaving.

It wouldn’t be long before she saw her family.

<><><><>

“What did you see?” Joel verbally pummeled Rayne when he returned to the courtyard. “What did you see?”

“It definitely was a nuclear weapon.”

“Oh my God!” Joel’s hand went to his face.

“You can go look. The cloud is still in the sky.”

“I don’t want to look.” Joel snapped. “This is insane.”

“It wasn’t a big one, because we would have had blast winds at least. When JJ and I listened to the radio, we heard bits and pieces; one thing they did say was low yield. I think they did that to burn out the miracle strain.”

“They did more than burn out the virus.”

“It won’t work. But the radiation might take out the rest of it.”

Joel snapped his finger. “Radiation that’s it. Do we need to go to the basement?”

“We should be fine.”

“But it was a nuclear weapon. There’s radiation.”

“Yeah, there is. But we won’t get it. Well, more than likely we won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve nuked Cleveland before.”

Joel crinkled his brow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“There was a website called Nuke it. You set a virtual bomb off in any city and you can see the effects. No matter what size I used the radiation moved toward the lake and east.”

“That’s twisted. That’s really twisted, Rayne.”

“There is something we might need to think about.”

“What’s that?”

“Looters.”

“Looters?” Joel’s voice upped. “Looters. Rayne, who the hell would loot?”

“Desperate people. We may need to find a gun.”

“The desperate people are all sick,” Joel snapped. “Take a look around. Look around the hotel. Everyone is sick. They’re sick and they’re dying, Rayne. Dying fast, too. Three people died this hour. Three. Why is that? Why did they live longer before? Now they’re just … dropping.”

“It probably mutated.”

“It mutated all right. We can’t keep up with it.”

“Still …”

“Still nothing.” Joel tossed out his hand. “We don’t need a gun, Rayne. It’s over. Right now, what we do need is a miracle.” With that, Joel walked off in the direction of the
ballroom.

Rayne exhaled as he stood alone. Joel was right, they did need a miracle. Sadly, there probably wasn’t one to be had.

<><><><>

This is the way the world ends …

Ava couldn’t stop thinking of that poem. Sitting at Calvin’s bedside, watching him and the cloud as it distorted and moved east.

Not with a bang but a whimper.

How true. Everything was quite. No power, no sound. The world would never be the same. Even if the bombing stopped the virus, even if a cure was found right that moment, it wouldn’t matter. Things were different. Society shut down and broke down. There was no easily piecing that back together. What would the new and less populated world hold?

Starvation. Hardship. Danger.

Nothing was going to be easy anymore. For a long time they wouldn’t be able to walk out, get in the car and go get a loaf of bread. Something as simple as water was going to be precious.

The virus did its job well. It was cruel and kind at the same time. Cruel in the way it ravaged a person with illness, kind in the fact that the person suffering slept. Even through the worst of coughing... they slept.

Calvin did.

He went from sniffling and sluggish to coughing badly. Now his cough was different. It was labored and Calvin wheezed and gasped every time he seemed as if he were going to cough. As if he was suffocating for lack of air. When he did choke out a cough, there was blood in it.

There was enough power on Ava’s phone for her to open her pictures. Calvin’s eyes were open. He stared at Ava, bloody tears involuntarily seeping from his eyes. She spoke to him about each picture, showing him the ones from happy times.

Calvin smiled once. A tired sick smile, but Ava absorbed that. She felt so badly for him. She cradled him a lot, and tried not to let him see her cry. Calvin was hurting and scared; no amount of sleep could mask that.

She tried to project positivity. But when Calvin asked. “Am I dying?” Ava wanted to break, she wanted to fold right there.  She didn’t know what to say, how to answer and she did the best she could by being honest. “I hope not.” she told him.

“Me, too. There’s a lot I still want to do.”

“I know.”

“I want to repaint Jesus on the First National Bank.”

“You do that and I’ll stand watch.”

“It’s a deal,” Calvin closed his eyes.

He fell asleep fast and didn’t start when there was a knock on the door.

It was Rayne. Ava was expecting him.

He came in with an IV bag, a cup and a bottle of water. “I brought you soup.” He set it on the table. “I need to change his bag.”

Ava nodded. “How’s Landon?”

“Landon is … scared,” Rayne said. “He stopped crying. I explained that Calvin is sick and he needs to stay away. He doesn’t understand why he can’t be near you.”

“He’s six. He’s not going to understand much.”

“He understands more than we give him credit for. He’s a brave kid, Ava.” Rayne looked down to Calvin. “Speaking of brave. How is he?”

Ava only shook her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” Her words were weepy. “I don’t know what to do, Rayne. I’m scared. I am so scared. This is killing me. Cassie is gone. Darren … he got the rabies cure. And now this. Calvin doesn’t deserve this.”

“No one does.”

“He’s just a kid
,” Ava said. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle it if he goes.”

“If that happens, you’ll handle it because you have to focus on Landon.”

Ava reached down for the drawer of the nightstand. “I have to ask you something.”

“Sure.”

“You can say no. And I know I have no right to ask you. But you are a good man, Rayne.” She handed him a sheet of paper. “While I was sitting here, I wrote down my mom’s address and a note …”

Rayne opened the folded paper. “Ava …. This is ….”

“Will you?” She asked. “Will you watch Landon, get him to my mom’s or try. And if God forbid she didn’t make it … can you take care of him?”

“Ava … look.”

“No. I understand. It’s a lot. I shouldn’t have asked. It was a lot. He’s a child. I just … you’re so strong and I know with how crazy this world is gonna be, he’ll be safe with you.”

“Ava, that’s not it. If … and that’s a
big if … if it is needed, I will take care of your son. But … that’s not gonna happen.”

“Rayne,” Ava gazed up to him. “Calvin is sick. I …”

“No,” he said strongly. “We don’t know. We don’t. You aren’t sick yet. That’s a good sign. You’re not going to need me to take Landon. You will. You’ll make it. You’ll be fine.”

Ava sniffled some and her lips pursed as she peered down to Calvin. “Even if I do make it. I’ll never be fine again.”

“No one will,” Rayne said softly. Then without saying anything further, he proceeded to change Calvin’s intravenous bag.